442 Lieut. -Col. Madden on some Plants 



XX XVII I. — Elucidation of some Plarits mentioned in Dr. Francis 

 Hamilton's Account of the Kingdom of Nepal. By Lieut. -Col. 

 Madden, F.R.S.E., President of the Botanical Society of 

 Edinburgh. 



[Concluded from p. 413.] 



Bhurya patra, or Bhurjapatra, p. 97. Betula bhojjjatra, 

 Wall. " This bark (of a fine chestnut colour) is imported into 

 the low country in considerable quantity, and is used both in 

 the religious ceremonies of the Hindus, and for constructing 

 the flexible tubes with which the natives [and Europeans also) 

 smoke tobacco." Both in India and in Persia this bark was 

 anciently substituted for paper (called Tus in Persia) ; hence a 

 Sanscrit name of the Birch, Vidhadal, 'leaf of knowledge.' 

 The blocks used in Thibet for stereotype printing are formed of 

 its wood. The Sanscrit Bhurjja, 'firm or hardy in the earth,^ 

 seems the origin of our term Birch, Russian Bereza, &c. The 

 Bharangi bark from Almorah (Boyle, J. A. S. B. for October 

 1832, No. 110) is explained to be Betula hhojpatra, — Illustrated 

 Cat. of Great Exhib. of 1851, vol. ii. 



Kaephal (not Karphal), p. 85. Myrica sapida, Kayaphal, 

 from the Sanscrit Katphal, signifies both acid and stony fruit. 

 It is scarcely worth eating ; but the bark is sent down to the 

 plains in large quantities, and is used, I think, in dyeing. 



Lalchandan, " a timber tree, the foliage and appearance of 

 which have some resemblance to the Laurels" (p. 85). No 

 specimen or reference seems to exist in the Catalogue ; but the 

 plant is probably Goughia Himalensis, Bentham (a new genus of 

 Euphorbiaceae, near to Sarcococca), which is not uncommon in 

 moist valleys in outer Kumaon and other provinces of the 

 Himalaya as far N.W. as Dharmsala near Kotkangra, at 5000- 

 7000 feet. The Kumaon name, Rakt Chandan, is of the same 

 import as that given by Dr. Hamilton, and signifies ' Red San- 

 dal-wood;' the heart-wood being used for the sectarial mark 

 which the Hindus daub on their foreheads. 



The genus Goughia is described and figured in Wight's Icones, 

 v. 22. t. 1878-79. 



Catalogue, specimen No. 1486. Sinapis Gorrcea. Ghor rayi, 

 Hindice. Colitur rarius in Indise Gangeticfe arvis ob seraina 

 acria. In fr. Surjaghorri, 27 March, 1811. Identified by 

 Wallich (No. 4790) with Sinapis erysimoides, Roxburgh, Fl. Ind. 

 iii. 123, from Wynaad, a district of Malabar. 



Ten years since, I noticed this plant under cultivation at Al- 

 morah, with the names Makara rai, Asl rai. Tarantula and True 



